"Mission accomplished” Amberg helps Hollywood
Local artist Morris delivers photographs for details in “Mission Impossible” - Action sequence with factory flair

by Thomas Amann

Amberg. Regarding “Mission Impossible”: for an Amberger, as is generally known (almost) nothing is impossible - it’s also not impossible to contribute to Hollywoods “most impossible mission.” It’s playing at the moment in all German cinemas - in the starring role mega-star Tom Cruise, as secret agent in the third film of the series “Mission: Impossible” lets the sparks fly again. In a scene the hero fights in a German factory, which in some details reminds us of the Sulzbach-Rosenberger Maxhütte steel factory.

Granted, there are cinematic minutiae in the background of a set which establish a relationship, but finally it’s the copied details that make a film seem perfectly authentic. This is the opinion of Matt Morris, Amberger artist of American origin, who had the honor to deliver these described subtleties for the sequence set in a fictional Germany. This uncommon assignment - the Oberpfalz helps Hollywood - came to the 37 year old by way of an old friend from San Diego who has worked for the film industry in Hollywood for a few years.

When he got the opportunity to create the set for the fictional factory scene in Germany, he thought right away of his friend, Matt Morris, living in Amberg and asked for his help. Unfortunately the film crew didn’t want to fly to Germany to flim on location in a real German factory, but decided instead to recreate the ambiance as detail-specific as possible in an existing factory in Los Angeles.

To create typical German details, like commercial and warning signs, or labeled walls and elevator doors in German text, the set-team needed examples from “good old Germany.” They directed Matt Morris on the search with his camera to certain motifs, when possible several decades old, because it was to look like an old historic factory. The search brought the painter and photographer to the Maxhütte ironworks, where there were several of the mentioned signs and tradition rich factory situations to copy. But also an old door sign at the entrance to the St. Martin church (“Don’t push, door closes by itself”) snapped the Amberger in his photo packet. The selections worked - Morris’ friend used several of the details in the factory scene, which by the way is quite dramatic. Shame that these action sequences weren’t really filmed in the Maxhütte ironworks - or better for Amberg: the Luitpoldhütte ironworks. But who knows: for Amberg and Matt Morris is apparently nothing impossible - the artist already has an open line with good communication to Hollywood...